Woman sought medical help for a car crash she wasn't in, and a Boynton driver is accused of fraud

RODRIGUE JEAN BAPTISTE (PBSO, Handout )

July 4, 2013|By Brittany Shammas, Sun Sentinel

After a car crash in Boynton Beach, a woman got treatment for her injuries.

There was just one problem: She wasn't in the accident.

Investigators say the woman pulled up in a pickup truck after an SUV and car collided and told Rodrigue Baptiste, one of the drivers, that she wanted to be included in the police report.

Baptiste went along with it — a decision that landed the 37-year-old Boynton Beach man in jail this week on fraud charges.

The crash happened on Oct. 9, at the intersection of West Gateway Boulevard and State Road 807, in Boynton Beach. A woman driving a Ford Explorer ran into a Ford Focus as she attempted to turn left out of an apartment complex, according to a Division of Insurance Fraud arrest report.

She got out of her vehicle to check on the people in the other car, and saw a man in the front seat and child in the back. No one else was in the car, she told police.

Sometime after the crash, the woman said, a Ford F-150 showed up and a woman got out.

The day after the accident, the woman in the pickup truck visited Delray Chiropractic and Wellness Center and filled out forms for an insurance claim. She began treatment for injuries suffered in the accident, the report states.

The insurance company has been billed more than $14,000 for her treatment and has paid more than $7,500 so far.

Baptiste initiated a claim with Liberty Mutual Insurance Company the week after the woman filed hers. He reported she was also in the accident.

When investigators met with Baptiste in April, he said he and his son were the only people in the Ford Focus. They asked why he allowed the other woman to be included in the report, and he said he "did not want to disrespect her in front of the police," according to the report.

Baptiste told investigators he never told police the truth about who was in the car because "no one asked me." He could not be reached for further comment Tuesday, despite a call.

Baptiste was released from the Palm Beach County Jail around 3 a.m. Tuesday on a $3,000 bail.